Snowstorm to hit Capital Region, Saratoga Springs could see more than a foot

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Brace yourselves, it's going to be a snowy weekend. Kevin Lipton, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albany, said the Saratoga Springs area should expect 10 to 14 inches of snow when all is said and done Saturday morning.

Snow is predicted to begin falling early Friday morning and continue throughout the day with the heaviest snowfall in the evening and into the overnight hours.

The morning commute isn't likely to be bad, Lipton said, but the evening commute is a different story. It "could be much, much worse," he said.

On Wednesday Saratoga Springs High School decided to move basketball games scheduled for Friday evening to Thursday, to avoid the impending storm.

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The girls freshman, JV and varsity basketball games scheduled for Friday evening at Niskayuna High School will be held at 4, 5:30 and 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7.

The boys freshman, JV and varsity basketball games will be played at 4, 5:30 and 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7, at Saratoga Springs High School.

Lipton said New England is likely to bear the brunt of the storm and could see up to 18 inches in some places, setting up a weekend of skiing, sledding and snowmobiling.

"We'll be here with bells on," said Christopher Kitchin, inside operations manager at Nashoba Valley Ski Area in Westford, Mass. "People are getting excited. They want to get out in the snow and go snow-tubing, skiing and snowboarding."

Small scattered snowstorms have kept business up at Nashoba Valley, but the upcoming storm could be "the icing on the cake," Kitchin said.

Tom Meyers, marketing director for Wachusett Mountain Ski Area in Princeton, Mass., said that at an annual conference of the National Ski Areas Association in Vermont this week, many participants were "buzzing" about the storm. He said the snow will arrive at an especially opportune time -- a week before many schools in Massachusetts have February vacation.

"It is perfect timing because it will just remind everybody that it is winter, it's real, and get out and enjoy it," Meyers said.

Nearly all of Vermont's snowmobile trails opened after Christmas but riding lately has been limited to hard-to-reach mountain areas. Riders hope this week's storm will bring enough snow to cover bare and icy patches.

"I'd say maybe 75 percent of the trail system may be back up and running if we got a good 8-inch storm," said Matt Tetreault, trails administrator for the Vermont Association of Snow Travelers.

The storm comes just after the 35th anniversary of the historic blizzard of 1978, which paralyzed New England with more than 2 feet of snow and hurricane force winds from Feb. 5-7. This week's storm isn't expected to come even close, but those who've been disappointed with the season so far say they'll take what they can get.

So far this winter, Albany's snowfall totals have been below average, but if this storm delivers what's been forecast, we should be about on par with the winter average.

Lipton said it will be cold and windy Saturday but no ice or sleet is expected with Friday night's storm.